This invention relates generally to a printing system in which print related devices are communicatively coupled to a network and, more particularly, to an automatic printer installation routine in which an unconfigured printer is communicatively coupled to the network and auto installation software facilitates the automatic installation of the unconfigured printer in such a manner that a selected group of client workstations communicating with the network can access the configured printer for use thereof.
The area of distributed printing across local or wide area networks is growing at a rapid pace. Companies such as Novell provide services, e.g. a network operating system, which permit multiple clients to communicate with multiple document processing devices, e.g. printers, by way of a suitable print server. U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,674 to Morgan et al. (Issued Jun. 15, 1993) discloses a print server capable of coordinating operation between multiple clients and multiple printers. In the arrangement of the '674 patent, communicatively coupling the clients with the printers is relatively easy because all of the printers are "linked" to the server by way of a single driver. Essentially, all of the printers are "on the same page" with respect to the server in that they are exploiting a common protocol and the server has explicit knowledge of the location of each printer.
In various distributed printing systems, communication between the printers and the server becomes far more problematic since a printer may be coupled with a node of which a host server is unaware. U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,494 to Menendez (Issued: May 12, 1992) discloses a system in which various document processing subsystems communicate with one another by way of a local area network. U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,571 to Rosekrans et al. (Issued: Sep. 12, 1995) also contemplates a network printing system in which multiple clients and document processing devices communicate with one another by way of a LAN. As taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,653 to Furman (Issued: Jan. 9, 1996), use of the above-mentioned Novell operating system is well suited for use in the printing arrangement of the '571 patent.
In current practice, when a printer is "plugged into" a network, a protocol "advertisement" is transmitted onto the network for letting a corresponding server know that the printer seeks to be set up or registered. Without such registration, none of the clients on the network can know of the printer's existence. In one common approach, registration is achieved with a system administrator ("SA") accessing one or more servers corresponding with the unregistered printer and using suitable software for detecting the advertisement or signal of the transmitting printer. In response to detecting the signal, the unregistered printer is then registered manually so that clients having an operating system compatible with the new printer are now able to use it.
This approach of registering a printer on a network is well suited for its intended purpose provided a SA is available to detect the new printer's advertisement and register the new printer accordingly. Clearly, it would be desirable to provide an approach in which a SA is not required to be available each time a new printer requires registration on the network. In a current Novell scheme referred to as "Novell Distributed Print Service" or "NDPS" ("Novell Distributed Print Service" is a trademark of Novell used in conjunction with Netware ("Netware" is a trademark of Novell) adaptable software), a given operating system can be apprised of the existence of a printer on the network provided a "Service Registry Service" or "SRS" (a component of NDPS) is apprised of certain objects associated with the printer. It would be desirable to provide an approach in which the SRS is automatically apprised of the certain objects each time a new printer is communicatively coupled with a network.
The present invention employs network capability to achieve various advantageous ends. The following discussion is intended to provide a background for any appropriate network implementation required by the embodiment(s) described below:
Examples of some recent patents relating to network environments of plural remote terminal shared users of networked printers include Xerox Corporation U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,243,518, 5,226,112, 5,170,340 and 5,287,194. Some patents on this subject by others include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,355, 5,113,494 (originally filed Feb. 27, 1987), 5,181,162, 5,220,674, 5,247,670; 4,953,080 and 4,821,107. Further, by way of background, some of the following Xerox Corporation U.S. patents also include examples of networked systems with printers: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,153,577; 5,113,517; 5,072,412; 5,065,347; 5,008,853; 4,947,345; 4,939,507; 4,937,036; 4,920,481; 4,914,586; 4,899,136; 4,453,128; 4,063,220; 4,099,024; 3,958,088; 3,920,895; and 3,597,071. Also noted are IBM Corp. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,651,278 and 4,623,244, and Canon U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,458 and Jap. Pub. No. 59-63872 published Nov. 4, 1984. Some of these various above patents also disclose multi-functional or integral machines digital scanner/facsimile/printer/copiers! and their controls.
Some other network system related publications include "Xerox Office Systems Technology" ". . . Xerox 8000 Series Products: Workstations, Services, Ethernet, and Software Development" .COPYRGT.1982, 1984 by Xerox Corporation, OSD-R8203A, Ed. T. Linden and E. Harslem, with a "Table of Contents" citing its numerous prior publications sources, and an Abstract noting the April, 1981 announcement of "the 8110 Star Information System, A New Personal Computer . . . "; "Xerox System Integration Standard Printing Protocol XSIS 118404", April 1984; "Xerox Integrated Production Publishers Solutions: Booklet No. 610P50807 (11/85); "Printing Protocol-Xerox System Integration Standard" .COPYRGT.1990 by Xerox Corporation, XNSS 119005 May 1990; "Xerox Network Systems Architecture", "General Information Manual", XNSG 068504 April 1985, with an extensive annotated bibliography, .COPYRGT.1985 by Xerox Corporation; "Interpress: The Source Book", Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1988, by Harrington, S. J. and Buckley, R. R.; Adobe Systems Incorporated "PostScript.RTM. Language Reference Manual", Addison-Wesley Co., 1990; "Mastering Novell.RTM. Netware.RTM.", 1990, SYBEX, Inc., Alameda, Calif., by Cheryl E. Currid and Craig A. Gillett; "Palladium Print System" .COPYRGT.MIT 1984, et sec; "Athena85 Computing in Higher Education: The Athena Experience", E. Balkovich, et al, Communications of the ACM, 28(11) pp. 1214-1224, November, 1985; and "Apollo87 The Network Computing Architecture and System: An Environment for Developing Distributed Applications", T. H. Dineen, et al, Usenix Conference Proceedings, June 1987.
Noted regarding commercial network systems with printers and software therefor is the 1992 Xerox.RTM. Corporation "Network Publisher" version of the 1990 "DocuTech.RTM." publishing system, including the "Network Server" to customer's Novell.RTM. 3.11 networks, supporting various different network protocols and "Ethernet"; and the Interpress Electronic Printing Standard, Version 3.0, Xerox System Integration Standard XNSS 048601 (Jan. 1986). Also, the much earlier Xerox.RTM. Corporation "9700 Electronic printing System"; the "VP Local Laser Printing" software application package, which, together with the Xerox.RTM. "4045" or other Laser Copier/Printer, the "6085 Professional Computer System" using Xerox Corporation "ViewPoint" or "GlobalView.RTM." software and a "local printer print service! Option" kit, comprises the "Documenter" system. The even earlier Xerox.RTM. Corporation "8000" "Xerox Network Services Product Descriptions" further describe other earlier Xerox.RTM. Corporation electronic document printing systems. Eastman Kodak "LionHeart.RTM." systems, first announced Sep. 13, 1990, are also noted.
Current popular commercial published "systems software" including LAN workstation connections includes Novell.RTM. DOS 7.0, "Windows.RTM." NT 3.1, and IBM OS/2 Version 2.1.
Disclosures of all of the patents cited and/or discussed above in this Background are incorporated herein by reference.